Wellington and Sundome continued on for some ways. Sundome bought another cheap sword but he still wasn't happy with it as his main weapon. Actually, he hadn't found a weapon he liked yet, so this was just something to earn money with.
The pair travelled and took on all Level 1 Dangerous areas they passed. Soon they arrived in the town of Dourmoth. Here a minor quest was posted.
"Find out what was ailing the village and making people sick and put an end to it." The quest paid 25 silvers.
There were large groups of players in Dourmoth as the 25 silvers interested quite a few. It was at this time that more and more players were talking about powered weapons. They didn't all have a comet stick. Most of them learned just by inquiring, and after testing.
This was where the race would start, the race to get a good powered weapon early on. Wellington already had his.
"Well what do you think?" Sundome asked Wellington. "Have any ideas about how we can get these 25 silvers?"
"You mean how we can help these ailing villagers right?" Wellington asked.
"Yeah yeah" Perhaps this strange mask or this aura was making him a little callous. The game was filled with NPC's, still they were so life like, it was almost like there was no difference between NPC's and players.
"Let's check up that stream. That's the obvious place for contamination I think." Wellington responded.
So the two went up the stream. Wellington was pretty bright, Sundome was thinking. He himself might have thought about the stream after an exhaustive brain storm.
Sure enough, after half a days travel, they came to a small house which was built just a few yards away from the stream. There was smoke billowing out from the chimney, which was coloured and strange powders and stuff heaped on the ground outside.
"An alchemist?" The smell in the air was indeed funny.
Wellington walked right up to the door and knocked a few times before opening.
Inside was a dimly lit room with various potions and some colored flames burning.
A gray haired old man with a crow on his shoulder was stooped over a large book on the table. Everything was lit by candles inside as there were no windows.
"Welcome welcome young lads! Have a seat, I'll be right there." The old man said. His gray hair was frizzy and long running down to his back. He also leaned to one side on a cane.
"Have you come for some divination perhaps? What is it that you want to know!" He glared strangely at Sundome's mask before looking at Wellington.
Wellington stood up with feet spread wide to show a strong position. "We want you to stop poisioning the water! You are making an entire village sick just a half day's journey from here."
"Sick! Oh my oh my" The old Alchemist said. "They don't like me none to much, but that's because they fear what they do not understand. Here have some tea, you two have been journeying alot lately I see."
Sundome stood quietly. Neither of the pair had accepted the hospitality yet. Finally Sundome took the tea and sat down. "You two couldn't be more different. I wonder what adventures brought you to these lands."
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"You can't fool me, old man!" Wellington braced himself, his mace was strapped to his back and he was braced for a fight while pointing at the man.
Suddenly his nose sniffed the tea and he realized the man was actually offering him some nice tea.
"I didn't poision the water, and only an Angsty Alchemist would create dangerous poisions near a stream that led to a village. I am a Good Alchemist. Everything I am creating here is benefficial and could do no harm."
"Since you two young fellows are doing a good deed and travelled all this way, then let me help you. Just tell me the symptoms of the illness affecting the village, and I'll see if I can figure out a way to cure them."
Sundome took the scene in. If anything this guy was the opposite of a bad guy. He could easily see that. But Wellington, although sipping the tea, was glancing at the crow on the old man's shoulders and around the room at all the seemingly suspicious alchemist stuff.
After finishing the tea, Sundome went outside and took a drink directly from the stream, just downriver of the Alchemist's house. It was sweet, like fresh mountain water. Purer than anything he'd tasted in the real world.
Then he sat by the side of the stream and waited.
After four hours, he got up refreshed. That was the easiest test. Now he knew for sure that the problem didn't come from the stream at all, what to speak of the old man.
Going back inside,Wellington and the Alchemist Wang, which was his name, were discussing alchemy theory. Sundome waited for them to finish.
"The water is good." He said nonchalantly.
The two just kept chatting away. Finally Wellington turned back to Sundome, and he now held a small book which he pocketed. It read 'Basic Alchemy'. "I think I understand that now. With Alchemist Wang's help we even figured out what the real problem is based on the symptoms of the people in the village."
"There is a Smoking Weasel around these parts! It's a giant Weasel that has fumes coming out of it's body which are black and poisionous. If we kill the Weasel and deliver the medicine, the people of the village will be healed!" Wellington continued excitedly.
"And we'll get the 25 silvers." Sundome added.
Two hours later, they were high in the mountains tracking the Smoking Weasel. They had a bait from Alchemist Wang so they weren't really tracking it, but he did explain where their natural habitat was. It was a mountain which was nearby Dourmoth.
The bait was a peice of meat with some special concoction the Alchemist gave them. While they were waiting for it to come Sundome's mind drifted back to the conversation in the cabin.
"So Sundome, it looks like you have a peculiar aura about you. You may not be aware, but the death aura causes your aura to change, and a slight almost imperceptable change in personality! As an Alchemist I am aware of these things."
"But here is something almost no one knows. If you consume a Nightingale Flower, it will augment your death aura which comes from the bones of a Magus Fly, mixed with the honey from the Achmad Desert Bee. Add in the Nightingale and you will be able to attract the Scaly Winged Demons. They will fear you, and obey you. It's a powerful mix but I'm afraid it will do nothing for your personality, it may even make you more devious. But I trust my eyes and you seem to have a good grasp of what should be done and what should not. Don't let me down."
He glanced one more time at the chrome mask, and a worried look flashed across his face. But he quickly put it away.
"Do you have any Nightingale?" Sundome asked.
"No. It is not easy to come by and can only be found on the peaks of the Craggy Mountains, west of here." Alchemist Wang said.
Sundome knew where the Craggy Mountains were from the map. He could go there after completing the Were Demon Quest.
"And Scaly Winged Demons? Where do I find them?" Sundome asked.
"You don't find Scaly Winged Demons. They find you. And you better pray you have the Nightingale when they do."
That was all to their conversation. While waiting for the Smoking Weasel, he realized he would have to log out soon, but he wanted to finish this minor quest first.
Suddenly "Oing Oing Oing" A black fume rose from a mountain peak nearby. It was heading this way. The Smoking Weasel caught the smell of the bait!
"The trap, set the trap!" Wellington said quickly. Indeed, they were going to trap this beast and bring it back to the village. Only when the villagers saw the power of this Smoking Weasel to inflict sickness would they give them the 25 silvers.
The trap was set and they both climbed the nearby tree. "Oing Oing Oing" The Weasel approached. It's black fume rose up to them, but they had already taken the medicine to counteract the sickness it caused.
Suddenly the trap sprang, and the Smoking Weasel was letting off even more poisionous fumes as it struggled angrily.
Two men and a Smoking Weasel caught in a trap. Down the mountain they went.